Hi Sharyl, I see what you mean about "assist" rather than "force", and I would definitely assist feed a cat who is just off it's food for awhile or one who had a non terminal illness. The story I wrote about happened many years ago, and this cat was dying of kidney failure, but I was too young and too dumb to know it, and I kept hoping he'd get better. Now I realize I was probably torturing the poor cat by forcing food into him.
As a matter of fact I am "assist feeding" my very old cat now. His recent blood work was very good for his age, and he had his teeth cleaned again, plus had an extraction, but he will not eat unless I sit there with him, and give him small amounts of food several times a day. I see what you mean about assist rather than force. Lorrie On 12-29, Sharyl wrote: I'm hoping Lorrie did not mean she would > never assist feed another cat.? There are so many reasons a cat > stops eating that can be treated if a person is willing to assist > feed for a period of time.? Constipation and dehydration are two > that come to mind that anyone of us with a FeLV+ kitty might face.? > Assist feeding while the medical problem is being addressed will > save the cat's life. ? There are many ways to assist feed.? Please > note I use the term assist feeding instead of force feeding.? A lot > of the process is the state of your mind while helping your cat.? I > assist my cats to consume the daily calories they need.?? My > Pequita only eats if I spoon feed her on my bed.? Works for her, > works for me.? ? Bright Eyes is bouncing back and forth between > diarrhea and constipation while I try and figure out the problem > and the right dose of lactulose.? ?He gets syringe fed 20 cc of > Gerbers 2 Chicken and Gravy every few hours to supplement what > little he does eat on his own.? He is the only one of the 4 FeLV+ > babies I rescued last fall that isn't doing well.?? I've accepted > that I might lose him but by golly he isn't going to starve to > death.? I can't fix FeLV but I can prevent starvation.? ? Once > again here is the link to the Yahoo Assist Feeding group. > http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Feline-Assisted-Feeding/ It is a > good one to bookmark. Sharyl > > _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
